Zitkala-Sa struggled with the conflicting influences of American Indian and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation, she attended boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Drawing on personal experience, Zitkala-Sa writes stories and articles that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience. In authoritative and evocative prose, she encourages new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions and customs of both Sioux and white cultures, and raises questions about assimilation, identity and race relations that remain compelling today.
